What would you do for $5, $10, $20, $50, $100?

Making Extra Cash

by Nathalia Aryani

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We all could use a little extra cash from time to time. With skyrocketing unemployment, the recession economy has created a new marketplace where people are buying and selling services for $5 flat per "gig." Gone are the days of astronomical rates and tedious bids, at least for simple projects. Elance and ODesk certainly have their place and established freelancers.

Fiverr, founded in February 2010, is the pioneer in this market. You may be an expert at something or willing to do certain things that others can't or won't. You may be looking for a service on the cheap. If you own a business, you may be looking to outsource a task or upsell a service.

Here's how it works. You create a seller account, profile, and gig. When someone orders your gig, he or she will pay $5 when the project is completed. Fiverr takes a clean cut of $1 per payment received. Paypal charges a nominal service fee when you withdraw your money. If you do a good gig, buyers can post positive feedback, which will boost your rating as a seller just like eBay.

Take a look at these smart, creative, fun, quirky, crazy, silly, interesting offerings:

On the other side, Fiverr has its own critics. There are professionals who oppose the concept of micro job sites and believe that their services are worth far more than a mere five bucks. What do you think? Have you purchased or sold a gig?

The inception of Fiverr has brought on competitors, but with a tweak. These alternative sites set the rates at $5, $10, $15, $20, $25, $50, and $100 to allow for more opportunities and flexibility. There are even those that use odd increments, such as $3, $5, $7; $4, $9, $19; $8, $16, and $24. And there are sites that have affiliate programs. They don't have the volume of traffic, number of jobs posted, or brand name recognition that Fiverr has, but are gaining popularity.

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